Pope Francis has so far not been shy about calling out nations and groups across the world for actions that conflict with Vatican values, but he recently also took the opportunity to scold those closest to him at home.
In an address Monday to an annual meeting held with the curia – the group of officials who help govern the church’s business affairs – the pope cautioned against prideful attitudes and outlined a series of spiritual “illnesses” currently plaguing the institution.
“The Curia is always required to better itself and to grow in communion, sanctity and wisdom to fully accomplish its mission,” the pontiff said in his remarks. “However, like any body, it is exposed to sickness, malfunction and infirmity. I would like to mention some of these illnesses that we encounter most frequently in our life in the curia.”
He identified one as a “sickness of considering oneself immortal, immune or indispensable,” leading them to neglect habitual controls and exalt themselves above others.
“A curia that is not self-critical, that does not stay up-to-date, that does not seek to better itself, is an ailing body, he said. “It is the sickness of the rich fool who thinks he will live for all eternity, and of those who transform themselves into masters and believe themselves superior to others, rather than at their service.”
Pope Francis also spoke of “Spiritual Alzheimer’s disease,” which he describes as the “forgetfulness of the history of Salvation,” and personal history with the God.
“This is a progressive decline of spiritual faculties, that over a period of time causes serious handicaps, making one incapable of carrying out certain activities autonomously, living in a state of absolute dependence on one’s own often imaginary views,” he said. “We see this is those who have lost their recollection of their encounter with the Lord … in those who build walls around themselves and who increasingly transform into slaves to the idols they have sculpted with their own hands.”
Other physical ailments the pope likened to illnesses of the spirit included:
Existential schizophrenia: “The sickness of those who live a double life, fruit of the hypocrisy typical of the mediocre and the progressive spiritual emptiness that cannot be filled by degrees or academic honors. This ailment particularly afflicts those who, abandoning pastoral service, limit themselves to bureaucratic matters, thus losing contact with reality and with real people.”
The sickness of chatter, grumbling and gossip: “This is a serious illness that begins simply, often just in the form of having a chat, and takes people over, turning them into sowers of discord, like Satan, and in many cases cold-blooded murderers of the reputations of their colleagues and brethren. It is the sickness of the cowardly who, not having the courage to speak directly to the people involved, instead speak behind their backs.”
The disease of accumulation: “When the apostle seeks to fill an existential emptiness of the heart by accumulating material goods, not out of necessity but simply to feel secure. Accumulation only burdens and inexorably slows down our progress.”
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